Officials ignore health problems from oil pollution
PALOCH, South Sudan — The oil industry in South Sudan has left a landscape pocked with hundreds of open waste pits, the water and soil contaminated with toxic chemicals and heavy metals, according to four environmental reports obtained by the Associated Press.
The reports also describe “alarming” birth defects, miscarriages and other health problems among residents of the region and soldiers who have been stationed there.
Abui Mou Kueth’s infant son, Ping, was born with six fingers on both hands, one stunted leg, a deformed foot and kidney swelling.
“I was shocked the first time I saw the baby,” she said, cradling him in her arms. “I am worried about his future.”
The Associated Press obtained the reports and supporting documents from people with close knowledge of the oil operations, one of whom works in the industry. They’ve never been released publicly.
“South Sudan is running one of the dirtiest and poorest managed oil operations on the planet,“said Egbert Wesselink, former head of a European coalition of more than 50 nonprofit organizations focused on the impacts of the country’s oil sector.
“I don’t think there’s a single major industrial operation on earth that’s getting away with this,” he said.
There’s been no clear link established between the pollution and the health problems.
But community leaders and lawmakers in the oilrich areas in Upper Nile and Unity states accuse South Sudan’s government and the two main oil consortiums, the Chineseled Dar Petroleum Operating Co. and the Greater Pioneer Operating Co., of neglecting the issue and trying to silence those who have tried to expose the problem. An AP reporter was detained and questioned by government officials and government security forces working on behalf of the oil companies.
Neither company responded to multiple requests for comment on the reports, and did not answer detailed questions sent by email and text from AP.
The reports show that the government and the oil companies have been aware for years that contamination from drilling could be causing severe health problems, but little has been done to clean up the mess.
The two earliest surveys were performed in 2013 and 2016 by South Sudan’s government. They found oil pollution across the region, and soil and water samples showed contamination, including mercury levels in the water were seven times what is permissible under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards.